Day Forty-Three

Today would become a wonderful day and a very frustrating day. My whole purpose in positioning myself near the city of Birmingham was so that I could get an early start on the Barber Museum.

Although they opened their doors at 10:00, I wanted to be there at 11:00 so they could prepare for my visit. LOL!!!

This place is amazing. The grounds are impeccably landscaped and cared for. The building, the race track and the priceless collection of vintage motorcycles and race cars is nothing short of the mecca for devotees of the motorcycle.

Out front are some very cool sculptures. I hope you enjoy them.

The atrium is the admission booth and is quite grand. It was suggested that I take the elevator to the fifth floor and work my way down through the seemingly endless display of motorbikes. As I floated to the top floor I devised a strategy to be sure I saw everything and had a challenge at the same time.

When I turned 16 the only thing I wanted was my driver's license so I could buy myself a motorcycle. Over the years I have owned ten different motorcycles. I wanted to find and photograph each one of them so off I went.

Here is my first bike, the 1965 Ducati Monza Jr. It was also the bike I was riding when a car blew through a stop sign and nailed me back during my senior year of high school.

Here’s the 1967 Triumph Daytona I rode 10,000 miles on a three month trip around North America in 1968.

Here’s a shot of a dirt bike I bought before retiring and rode for several years on the snowmobile trails south of Baysville, Ontario. I broke my leg riding this beast a few years ago. I slipped on some wet leaves on a corner and went down hard. Awesome bike though.

As it turned out I was not able to find all of my bikes but I did inquire and they actually have all of them but some are offsite in their warehouse. Here are some shots of some unique bikes I remember.

 

I also found the first Ford F150 pickup which shows just how far we've come in the last 100 years.

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum also has a race track on its grounds that is also impeccably manicured.

After about three hours I had seen the entire display. I could have stayed all day but I felt I got all I needed from the experience. I even bought a t-shirt from their gift shop.

Being a shorter day of driving I decided to just run up to Nashville and look for a campground along the way. When I crossed the line into Tennessee, I stopped at the visitor centre for some camping suggestions. I decided to stay at a KOA site just east of Nashville in the town of Lebanon and called in my reservation.

In order to get to Lebanon, you have to take a loop around Nashville. Today, maybe it’s a sign, I don’t know but I got stuck in traffic behind two separate accidents and sat for what seemed like forever to get to the campsite.

I finally made it just as the office was closing up but they still had one of their crew escort me to my spot in his little golf cart. It seems like a nice campground with lots of trees but their wifi sucks. It’s so bad I couldn’t even pull up my email.

I literally have no idea which way to go tomorrow. The office said that my spot is rented already for the weekend starting tomorrow.